Free Republic

ROME — Pope Francis employed some of his strongest language to date Sunday in denouncing Europe’s “scandalous” rejection of migrants. “The exclusion of migrants is scandalous. Even more, the exclusion of migrants is criminal, it kills them right before our eyes,” the pontiff said in his Sunday homily, departing from his prepared remarks.

How did harmful content and misinformation online get so bad — after so much time, money, and scores of people trying to limit the spread of inaccurate, violent, obscene, and harmful content? For starters, the problem is much bigger than it used to be, and human-driven efforts cannot keep up. Even with tens of thousands tackling the problem (Meta’s Trust & Safety team has swelled to an army of more than 40,000) the sheer amount of digital content is too overwhelming. Moderating this content by human review is not only time-consuming, ineffective, and error-prone, it also can endanger the mental...

From simple rock arches to Stonehenge, tens of thousands of imposing stone structures dot Europe’s landscapes. The origins of these megaliths have long been controversial. A new study suggests that large rock constructions first appeared in France and spread across Europe in three waves. The earliest megaliths were built in what’s now northwestern France as early as around 6,800 years ago, says archaeologist Bettina Schulz Paulsson of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Knowledge of these stone constructions then spread by sea to societies along Europe’s Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, she contends in a study posted online the week of...

The May 24, 2014 terrorist attack at the Brussels Jewish Museum that killed four people (including an Israeli couple) has spurred serious discussions about European anti-Semitism in European capitals and at the European Union (EU) headquarters in Brussels. The jihadist killer was a French Muslim of Arab North African extraction, named Mehdi Nemmouche, 29, who spent over a year in Syria, and had links with radical Islamists. Earlier, in 2012, a horrible murder of a rabbi and three children at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France committed by Mohammad Merah, a jihadist, North-African Arab Muslim, points to a pattern. Both...

Islam is on its way to become the most practiced religion in Europe. In a new book published by the University of Leuven, “The Iris and the Crescent,” sociologist Felice Dassetto says that Muslims will comprise the majority of the population of Brussels by 2030. The title of the book refers to the yellow flower symbol of Brussels’ region and to the Islamic emblem: While the first is decaying, the second is growing. Muslims now make up one-quarter of the population of the capital of the enlightened Europe and they are asking to use the empty churches for Islamic prayers....

Greece sneezed, and now most of Europe has a cold. The European debt crisis has already spread like a virus from Greece to Ireland, and other countries are now at risk: Portugal, Spain, and Italy are probable candidates for financial problems. Economists call this the “contagion effect.” How does this spread? Some of it has to do with confidence. When investors see one country encounter financial problems, they may doubt the health of other countries that seem to share economic or even political characteristics. Contagion also has much to do with actual economic links among countries. Researchers have identified financial...

Even Willy Wonka might struggle to use this much chocolate. Yesterday, somebody bought 241,000 tonnes of cocoa beans. The purchase was enough to move the entire global cocoa market, sending the price to the highest level since 1977, and triggering rumours and intrigue in the City. It is unclear which person, or group of traders, was behind the deal, but it was the largest single cocoa trade for 14 years. The cocoa beans, which are sitting in warehouses either in The Netherlands, Hamburg, or closer to home in London, Liverpool or Humberside is equivalent to the entire supply of the...

Europe's largest windfarm was shut down after a blade snapped off one of the huge turbines, operators said today. All 140 turbines at the Whitelee windfarm on Eaglesham Moor near Glasgow are being inspected by engineers following Friday's incident. ScottishPower Renewables said mechanical failure or a lightning strike could be to blame for the breakage, which it described as 'highly unusual'. The 150ft, 14-tonne, fibreglass blade broke off in the early hours in windy conditions and landed at the base of its tower.

This is Europe's problem too, says Madrid By Mike Elkin (Filed: 19/05/2006) Spain has issued its most urgent international appeal for help in coping with illegal immigrants flooding into the Canary Islands. Madrid announced it will dispatch diplomats to several countries in western Africa, where the migrants come from, while a European parliament delegation will arrive next month to assess a problem that the Spaniards say is not just theirs but Europe's. Over 2,000 migrants have reached the Spanish coast this month The calmer seas of early summer have seen a sharp rise in the numbers reaching the holiday islands,...

Chavez offers oil to Europe's poor Venezuelan President promises fuel to the needy and proclaims 'final days of the North American empire' before visit to Britain today Sunday May 14, 2006 The Observer (UK) Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez arrives in London today with an extraordinary promise to offer cut-rate heating oil for needy families in Europe, modelled on a similar campaign in the US which has been seen partly as a bid to embarrass President George Bush. Last night Chavez also issued a taunting obituary for the 'American empire' on the eve of a visit where he will be shunned...

Polish archaeologist unearths Europe's most ancient graves Mar 2, 2006, 14:15 GMT Warsaw - Five of Europe's most ancient graves, dating back 10,000 years, have been unearthed in the village of Dwreca, central Poland. Archaeologist Marian Marciniak found the graves on the site of ancient post-glacial dunes, the Rzeczpospolita daily reported. In them, a young woman, believed aged 18 to 21, was put to rest with a baby, a child aged 5 to 7 and another aged 7 to 11. An adult male found at the site was buried sitting upright, as if on a throne or chair. The bodies...

Europe's chill linked to disease By Kate Ravilious Bubonic plague may have wiped out over a third of Europe's population Europe's "Little Ice Age" may have been triggered by the 14th Century Black Death plague, according to a new study. Pollen and leaf data support the idea that millions of trees sprang up on abandoned farmland, soaking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This would have had the effect of cooling the climate, a team from Utrecht University, Netherlands, says. The Little Ice Age was a period of some 300 years when Europe experienced a dip in average temperatures. Dr...

'Four mothers' for Europe's Jews There are now some 8m people of Ashkenazi origin around the world Almost half of Europe's Jews are descended from just four women who lived 1,000 years ago, a study says. Scientists studied the mitochondrial DNA - passed from mother to daughter - of 11,000 women of Ashkenazi Jewish origin living in 67 countries. The Ashkenazis moved from the Mid-East to Italy and then to Eastern Europe, where their population exploded in the 13th Century, the scientists say. One of the authors said the study shows the importance of Jewish mothers. "This I could tell...

German Scientists: Europe's Oldest Script Found in Bulgaria Lifestyle: 18 May 2005, Wednesday. Ancient tablets found in South Bulgaria are written in the oldest European script found ever, German scientists say. The tablets, unearthed near the Southern town of Kardzhali, are over 35-centuries old, and bear the ancient script of the Cretan (Minoan) civilization, according to scientists from the University of Heidelberg, who examined the foundings. This is the Cretan writing, also known as Linear A script, which dates back to XV-XIV century B.C. The discovery proves the theory of the Bulgarian archaeologists that the script on the foundings is...

Europe's 10-year mission to catch a comet Europe's mission to land a spacecraft on a comet is set for take-off next month, a year after the project was delayed because of problems with a rocket launcher. The European Space Agency will propel the Rosetta craft into space on February 26 from a base in Kourou, French Guiana, said Jean-Yves Le Gall, director-general of Arianespace, which made the rocket that will launch the craft. If the Rosetta mission succeeds, it will break new ground by placing a lander on a swift, icy comet. Until now, spacecraft only carried out brief fly-bys...

Germans believe Britain is Europe's leading state By Kate Connolly in Berlin (Filed: 03/12/2003) Britain has come top of a poll among Germans who were asked to name Europe's most powerful nation. Results of the opinion poll - in which 1,500 Germans were asked: "Which country is the leading power in Europe?" - showed that 27 per cent thought Britain was "indisputably" number one. France was regarded as the most powerful by 26 per cent, and Germany by 21 per cent. In a similar survey a decade ago, 57 per cent considered Germany the top power, with Britain seen as...

Everybody knows Europe's sluggish economy is recovering from three years of recession and stagnation far more slowly than America's. So why is the euro climbing against the dollar and threatening to douse the faint spark of recovery? After fluctuating between $1.11 and $1.15 for most of the summer, the single currency surged back above its 1999 launch value of $1.17. By Oct. 8, it was hovering around $1.18. That's 20% more than a year ago. Most economists and traders believe it's not done rising: They expect the euro to continue gaining on the dollar, albeit sporadically, for the foreseeable future....

Drought leaves Europe's farmers helpless By Alex Kirby BBC News Online environment correspondent Europe is aflame, with little prospect of any imminent change in the weather to cool it off. We've never had this kind of drought in 50 yearsMauro Pinelli Four people have died in forest fires in France, and firefighters across the continent are fully stretched. The forecast for Rome and Lisbon is 37C, for Athens 33C, and no respite is in sight. For Europe's farmers, totally dependent on the weather, the outlook is dire, and remedies are few. The European Union has begun to act. Its agriculture...

SALZBURG, Austria - Middle Europe on a sunny afternoon is one of the more pleasant delights of civilization. A well-ordered Hapsburg city like Salzburg, with its parks, statuary, open air cafés, German cuisine (lighter these weight-conscious days but still delicious), and Mozart concerts in the castle overlooking the river that snakes through the town, attracts North American and other tourists avid for history and Austria's famous gemütlichkeit. Yet beneath its sheen of prosperity, Europe is in trouble. Its economy is still mired in stagnation and, unlike the U.S. economy, there are as yet no signs of a cyclical recovery. Its...

Europe's dreams of muscle dashed The EU's hopes of becoming a defence superpower are looking less realistic, writes Ian Black. Friday December 6, 2002 Americans were not at all amused a couple of years ago when a respected thinktank published a pamphlet analysing how the European Union should forge the common defence policies it hopes could help it play a bigger role on the world stage. The cover of the pamphlet was a clever pastiche of the iconic image of battle-weary US marines raising the stars and stripes on Iwo Jima, the Pacific island captured from the Japanese during bloody...